1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus capable of being applied to a device such as a copying machine equipped with a function for detecting a specific original.
2. Prior Art
Recent improvements in the picture quality of copying machines which now have a color capability have been accompanied by the fear of counterfeiting of specific originals such as bank notes and securities. A proposed method of detecting a specific original in a copying machine is pattern matching in which an input image and the shape of a specific image are compared. In order to determine whether an original placed at any position on a platen is a specific original, the position at which the original has been placed or the angle of the original is calculated and then pattern matching is performed.
In the example of the prior art described above, however, the reader is merely a scanner. In a case, fore example, where a plurality of input devices such as film scanners or still-video cameras are connected, an accurate judgment concerning a specific original cannot be made owing to differences in the conditions of the input sensors.
Further, in the example of the prior art described above, a color original is judged based solely upon R, G, B signals obtained by separation into three colors using an RGB CCD sensor. Consequently, when, for example, an image output apparatus is connected to a host computer or the like, image processing is executed by the computer and Y, M, C, Bk signals are sent to the image output apparatus, detection of a specific original of interest cannot be carried out. In other words, detection cannot be performed in case of a color space in which the data of the inputted color components differs from the color-component data used in detection.